Process of obtaining a violent chemical reaction between materials.



' PATBNTED APR. 2a, 1908.

E c. G. P. DB LAVAL. PROCESS OF OBTAINING A VIOLENT CHEMICAL REACTIONBETWEEN MATERIALS.

APPLICATION EILED JULY 15. 1905.

UNITED STATES rgrnn'r OFFICE.

CARL GUSTAF PATRIK DE LAvap, F STOCKHOLM, SWEDEN, ASSIGNOR TO SOCIETEANON YME METALLURGIQUE PROCEDES DE LAVAL, or FRANKFORT-ON-THE-MAIN,GERMANY", A

CORPORATION OF BELGIUM.

' PROCESS OF OBTAINING A VIOLENT CHEMICAL REACTION BETWEEN MATERIALS.

Specificationbf Letters Patent.

Patented April 28, 1908.

Application filed July 15, 1905. Serial No. 269,755.

To all whom 'it may concern:

Be it known that I, CARL'GUSTAF PATRIK DE LAVAL, engineer and doctor ofphilosophy, subject of the King of Sweden, residing atKungstradgardsgatan 2 C, Stockholm, Sweden, have invented new and usefulImprovements in Processes for Obtaining a Violent Chemical Reactionbetween Mate- ;rials, of which the following is a specificamethodhowever besides being very expen-. sive also removes the advantagesresulting I from the use of powder, viz. that the chem-.

tion.

It is commonly desirable especially for in-- dustrial purpose to obtainviolent chemical reaction etween materials which are subject to chemicalinfluence. For this reason, when treating solid materials, they arepreferably used ina pulverous form. The difficulties accompanying theemployment of a pulver-- *ous charge to be treated in a furnace, arewell known, particularly in the case of the iron industry. With a viewto overcomingsuch difficulties it has been proposed to form briquets ofthe material to be; treated, which current is simultaneously veryrapidly r0 tating or. whirling. By means of such gas or air current thematerial will also be caused to rotate or whirl and will be veryintimately mixed with the said air or gas, thereby occasioning thechemical reactions to be effected suddenly.

Inorder that "the-invention may be fully understood reference will bemade to the accompanying drawing which illustrates, by way of example, afurnace designed for th reduction of lIOIl ore.

Figure 1 shows the furnace in vertical section, andFig. 2 in horizontalsection.

1 indicates the furnace chamber, which, in the construction illustratedis cylindrical and provided at its upper end with a hopper 2 for theintroduction of the pulverous charge. Arranged in the lower part ofthefurnace is an outlet 3 for the iron and a centrally arranged outlet'4 for thegases, developed during the chemical reactions in the furnace.

Opening into the up or art of the furnace I is the contracted mout 0 atangentially arranged pipe or nozzle 5 forair or gas. The air or gas isintroduced into the furnace through the pipe 5 with great velocity bypressure or suction and owing to its tangential direction and the greatvelocity im art'ed to the air or gas in its inlet nozzle saii air or gaswillflow around the cylindrical wall of the furnace. The "as or air willbe thus caused to rapidly whirl or rotate within the furnace, carryingalong with it the pulverous charge introduced through the hopper 2.

As the outlet 4 for the gases is arranged centrally in the lower part ofthe furnacethe materials to be treated are caused to move in aspiraldirection from the inlet to the outlet and the length of the furnace issuch that the desired chemical actions will be fully completedduringthis passage. Thus the gas or air, entering the furnace at thecircumference, moves in a spiral direction from the circumference to thecentral line of the furnace, in

or near which the outlet 4 for the gases is provided. The materialintroduced in or near-the central line of the furnace through hopper 2,will be subjected to the centrifugal force by means of the rotationimparted to it by the rotating gas or air, and will consequently move ina spiral direction'from the center to'the circumference of the furnace".

Said opposite movements of the gas or air and of the material willcontribute to the per-, formance of the chemical reactions between thegas or air and the material introduced through hopper 2.

By means of any suitable'device, which however is no part of thepresentinvention and is therefore not shown on the drawing, theintroduction of the pulverulent charge and the gas or air is madeuniform and can be regulated.

For extracting iron the charge consists of iron ore, slag formingmaterials, and carbon,- which is'burned to C O in the upper part of thefurnace. The gas introduced through pipe 5 ma consist of carbon monoxidor of air,

which if desired, may be mixed with carbon soas to form carbon monoxidwithin the furnace. the inner surface of the furnace wall owing to thecentrifugal force to which they are sub- The molten metal and slaggather on mitted during the rotation or whirling, and flow downcontinually to the annular chamber around the gas outlet 4 at the bottomof the furnace, from which they are withdrawn through the outlet 3.

If it be desired to establish an oxidizing zone in the. lower part ofthe furnace a pipe 6 is arranged tangentially, in the same manner as thepipe 5, and through which air is delivered to the furnace by pressure orsuction. By the aid of said air the carbon monoxid (CO) formed in theupper part of the furnace, may be burned to carboa-dioxid (C0,); theheat thus generated being advantageous to the successful working of thefurnace.

The gases generated escape through the i outlet 4 which, in theconstruction shown on 1 the drawing, is arranged as a twyer, having ahollow wall and which is cooled by means ofa water current circulatingthrough the pipes 7 and 8. This arrangement of outlet is pro- 'videdinorder to avoid obstruction by dust following the gases, such dusthaving less tendency to adhere to the surfaces of the twyer when watercooled.

It will be understood that if required an oxidizing zone may be formedin the upper part of the furnace and a reducing zone in the lower partof the furnace; the invention is thus applicable for the oxidation ofores as well as for the reduction of oxids.

The invention is not limited to the treatment of pulverous or solidmaterial, but is also applicable to the treatment of liquid or gaseousmaterials,- said materials being introduced' in the center of thefurnace, whereas a gas current is introduced tangentialtv a t. thecircumference of the furnace. For instance petroleum may be employed inthe furnace, which, as a fuel for the purpose of obtaining an oxidizingor reducing flame is introduced through an opening in the roof of thefurnace, a hot air current being simultaneously introduced tangentiallythrough the pipe 5. In such a furnace the petroleum will be inti- 5mate'ly mixed with the air and burned to carbon monoxid or tocarbon-dioxid according to the circumstances. The heat thus generatedbeing utilized for any required purpose.

I am aware that, especially for coal-dust- 5 stoves, it has beenproposed to introduce the coal-dust through a hopper in a reservoir, inwhich the coal-dust is mixed with an air-current, introducedtangentially. The materials thus mixed do not react chemically upon oneanother, but the mixture so produced is conducted through s'uitabletubes to the stove. It is peculiar to the present invention that thechemical actions are carried out Sillllll taneously with the mixing ofthe materials.

Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the saidinvention and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare thatwhat I claim is:----- The process of bringing about violent as chemicalreaction between materials consisting in introducing the materials intothe center of a spirally shaped rotating body of gaseous fluid in afurnace.

In testimony whereof I have signed my 7 name to this specification inthe presence of two subscribing witnesses.

CARL GUSTAF lATlilK DE IIAVAII. Witnesses:

WALDEMAR BoMAN,

CARL FRIBERG.

